Sleigh Ride Together
by ta1nt3d1uv
Summary: It all started with a sleigh ride that introduced Dean to Arbre. He never suspected there was more in the works than holiday spirit. That is, until he found that Arbre and his brother had a connection. Rating subject to change. Season Three.
1. Chapter 1

**A Sleigh Ride Together**

_**Chapter One**_

_C'mon its lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you._

-Sleigh Ride

It was the first snow of the season and the wind blew the small white flakes around like a snow globe. It looked like a perfect winter day, with only a thin layer on the ground.

A woman stood on the sidewalk, watching the snow come down. She smiled as a horse trotted up, bells jingling around it's neck.

"Care for a ride?" asked the man on the horse, dressed in a Santa suit.

She looked the sleigh over, "Alright. But I better not get any coal this year."

"Just you?"

The girl nodded, her dark chestnut hair moving with the wind. With that, she began to climb into the sleigh.

That's when a dark-haired man came up, "Mind if I join you?"

He smiled at the girl, whom he'd spoken to earlier that night in the hotel lounge. They hadn't spoken about anything important, just smalltalk.

"If you must," she smiled and scooted to the other side, making room for the man.

"Why thank you," he said, sitting next to her.

The sleigh began to move and the woman shivered, pulling her thin jacket tighter.

He took his leather jacket off and placed it around the woman's shoulders, "Here, let me..."

"No, really. It's freezing, I can't let you do that," she responded, making a small yet failing attempt at giving the coat back.

"Sure you can," he insisted, watching the snowflakes land on her hair.

"Well, I guess it's mine now then," she smiled and pulled out his wallet. "Let's see what else I have now..."

Upon opening the wallet she saw more than a few different ID's, all with different names on them. She looked up at the man intrigued.

"Which one's really yours?" she eyed him.

"Where would the fun in me telling you that be?" he responded. "Show me yours, I'll show you mine.

"Arbre..." the woman said her name.

"Dean. Hm...Arbre, that's an interesting name."

"Well, I'm an interesting person," Arbre laughed. "It's not really all that interesting. Means tree. And I'm the interesting one? You've got like a hundred fake IDs in your wallet."

"Never said I wasn't interesting."

She took off Dean's coat, handing it back to him, "You need it more, _interesting_ Dean. You've got short sleeves, at least I've got a jacket of sorts."

Dean looked at the woman he couldn't even say he knew. The girl he'd merely met.

"The cold isn't all that bad."

Arbre responded with a smirk, "Which is why I don't need your jacket."

"Well then..." Dean began.

"End of the line," the Santa interrupted, stopping the sleigh where they started. "Happy holidays."

Dean got out first and then helped Arbre down.

"It was nice meeting you. Even if your name means tree."

"You too," she smiled. "Even if your wallet has some questionable items in it."

The two looked back at the Santa and said in unison, "Merry Christmas."

They looked at each other and laughed before walking their separate ways. The Santa watched for a moment, smiling.

Dean stopped before going back inside the hotel, turning to look at the Santa. Both he and the sleigh were gone already, with no marks in the snow to show he'd ever been there.

* * *

**Author's Note:** So I had this cute idea for something like this. And it was going to be a little one-shot, but I changed my mind. It took me a couple days to type this up and in those couple days, I came up with a plot. So now I'm pretty excited. Reviews, as always, are great. We writers love them. And they might influence me to change my mind about some aspects of the story as I have planned already. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Sleigh Ride Together**

_**Chapter Two**_

Dean shook his head, figuring that the snow had _somehow_ managed to cover the tracks already. With that thought, he went inside the hotel and headed up to his and Sam's room.

Upon arriving at the room, he pulled the card to swipe out of his pocket. More specifically, from the wallet that Arbre had looked through. Dean found it an odd coincidence that he'd run into the brunette twice. And that she wasn't freaked out about the fake ID's he had.

He sighed, opening the door and entering the room where Sam was sitting, eating a sub.

"Hey, back so soon? Didn't think you would be or I would've gotten something for you," Sam smiled and set the sub on his lap.

"The weirdest thing happened," Dean said, not acknowledging that Sam had spoken. "I met this girl down at the bar and then ran into her again outside."

"That's...weird," the younger of the two shook his head. "Dean, that happens."

Dean gave his brother a menacing look and sat on the bed across from him, "No, that's not the weird part. So, I run into her outside, right? Well, then we went on a sleigh ride with Santa."

"A sleigh ride with Santa?" Sam looked at Dean incredulously. "Dean, I hate yo break it to you...but Santa's not real."

Dean put on a mock-sad face, "What? No... how could that be? ...Oh, come on Sam. You think I don't know that? You know what I meant. Guy in a Santa suit..."

Sam nodded and Dean looked down at the sub on his lap, "Where's mine?"

"I already told you, I didn't think you'd be back."

Dean nodded, unable to get his mind off the girl, "Anyway, we talked and everything. She seemed...quirky."

"Quirky?"

Dean merely looked at his brother before continuing, "And after we got off the sleigh, now this is the weird part-"

"Don't you mean the _quirky_ part?" Sam laughed, but his brother's face stayed serious.

"The weird part," Dean said sternly, "was that the sleigh and Santa just vanished afterwards."

"Did you see them disappear?" Sam asked curiously.

"No," Dean paused. "But I looked and there were no marks in the snow."

Sam looked a little confused.

"Isn't that weird? Hmm...maybe Arbre's still down there somewhere. She might've seen the Santa go or something."

"Arbre?" Sam asked, annoyed with his brother's rambling.

"The girl," Dean said.

Sam nodded, "Why don't you go see?"

Dean agreed and Sam had never felt so relieved to be alone.

---

After the sleigh ride, which seemed a bit surreal to Arbre, she'd decided to go shopping since it was nearly Christmas. She sighed, realizing that everyone else had also decided to go shopping.

Seeing how long the lines were, Arbre decided it'd be best to head back to the hotel and do her shopping another time. She didn't have the patience to wait in such long lines, and there was no point in looking if she wasn't going to buy anything.

Taking a shortcut back to the hotel, which was only a couple blocks away, she began to think of Dean.

She was about halfway back when her vision suddenly began to fade.

---

"A sleigh ride," Sam smiled to himself, wrapping the half-eaten sub back up before putting it into the fridge.

He got up and went over to the bathroom turning on the light and making his way to the shower. He was about to turn on the water when he realized his shampoo and such was still packed. Sam sighed and went to go get his essentials.

Rummaging through his bag, all of a sudden Sam felt a sharp pain on the back of his head before losing consciousness.

---

Dean sighed, looking around the hotel lobby. She wasn't there. He went back into the bar, not expecting the brunette to have gone back. And his lack of expectation was right.

That's when he decided to take a quick glance outside. Maybe she was still out there, he thought to himself.

She wasn't there either.

A bit disappointed, Dean went inside and was on his way back to the hotel room.

* * *

**Author's note**: So...the story wasn't well represented by the first chapter in my opinion, since it's going to be pretty dark for a bit...but it'll get light at the end again. I'd really love to hear more feedback, so leave a review please. 


	3. Chapter 3

**A Sleigh Ride Together**

_Chapter Three_

Upon arriving back up at his hotel room, Dean noticed the door was open about half an inch.

He looked around before pushing the door open completely. Warily, he entered the room, careful to look around.

_Nothing._

Sam's bag was on his bed, open, with a bottle of shampoo sitting on top.

Dean glanced over and noticed the bathroom light was on.

"Sammy?" he called out, going over to the bathroom. "You in there?"

Dean peered in, seeing that his younger brother wasn't in there. He flipped the switch off and stood there for a moment until he heard the hotel room's door shut.

Turning around, he saw a blonde woman standing with her back against the door.

"I'm sorry, I don't think we've been formally introduced," came the woman's voice in a cocky manner.

Dean looked confused until the blonde's eyes flashed black.

"Ruby," Dean's voice sounded steadily.

---

Arbre's eyes opened. She felt a little dizzy, but didn't know why. If she'd been standing, she would have immediately sat down.

But she was already sitting, her hands tied behind her back and feet tied to the legs of the chair she was in.

Trying to look around at her surroundings, Arbre's eyes failed her. But it wasn't their fault. she was immersed into darkness.

---

Sam's head hurt. He was disoriented, having no idea where he was or how he'd gotten there. He began to remember something...

He had been about to take a shower, but when he went to get his things, he'd felt a pain.

Sam had been knocked unconscious.

The youngest Winchester sighed, realizing he was tied up. Sam tried to get the ropes that bound his wrists undone, but he couldn't. And he knew that if he was unable to free his wrists, his feet would be nearly impossible.

Sam's eyes began to adjust to the darkness when he saw that someone else was there.

Right in front of him sat a girl who seemed to be in the same predicament.

---

"Dean," Ruby replied matter-of-factly.

"Where the hell is my brother?" Dean raised his voice.

Ruby gave him a cold stare before slowly stating, "I don't know."

"I don't believe you."

"You really think I'd come here if I'd done something to him?" she crossed her arms, making her point obvious.

Dean stared at her and wondered, "Then why are you here?"

"I'm here to help you."

"And why would you do that?"

"As I've told Sam, I have my reasons."

"Well, I'm not Sam. So you better tell me those reasons, sweetheart. Why the meddling with my brother?"

She sighed, "You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

Ruby walked over to one of the beds and sat down on the edge.

"In Hell...there's a Bible that is a lot like the Christian one. They have a lot in common," she stated.

Dean sat on the other bed adjacent to her, "What's that have to do with Sammy?"

He was concerned, but it wasn't anything he hadn't heard already.

"A lot, actually. But it's not just him," she paused with an attitude. "A girl is mentioned. She's normal...human. But she plays a fairly large role. She influences which side will win the war between good and evil."

"How's that?" Dean asked, not really believing Ruby. It sounded like some story demons were told so they'd do as they were told.

"It doesn't say specifically...just that she'll make a decision which will give one side the advantage. Nobody knows what that decision in, but we all know who she is."

* * *

**Author's Note**:

It's getting better. I forgot that I hadn't put this up yet...well, actually, I just forgot that I hadn't typed it up. Moreso, I can't remember if I finished the next chapter or not... I should check that out. Anyway, enjoy, etc etc. I'm getting internet...tomorrow for when I'm typing this up and today for when I put this online. I'm putting this up once the internet's hooked up. You know what that means? More updates. I wanted to get the whole story up by Christmas, but I don't think that's going to happen...especially since I like to have a couple days between chapters. Let's hope to get this finished for New Years.


End file.
